In the first installment of The Horror Essay Series, I will focus on Saw I. I will warn you, there may be spoilers, so you might want to watch the movie first! If not, read at your own peril.
If I do decide to add/edit these essays for print publication, I will add more references and footnotes. But the information in this essay is the compilation of my observation/knowledge of the movie and what I've learned about myth, psychology, archetypes, and symbols over the course of my life. This is my own thoughts and feelings. If you would like to share it, great! But please give credit where it is due. And now to the essay...
I've chosen to focus on Saw I, as I feel that it best captures the essence of the Saw movies. It is the truest to both Leigh Whannell and James Wan's original vision. I also find that it is the best written, perhaps because it had been edited several times before it was made, while the later entries had less time, as each sequel comes out at Halloween the next year. That gives only one year for writing, creating, editing, and marketing – not a lot of time at all. So, the other movies often feel more rushed and frenetic, almost primal – focused on survival and the traps. Saw I feels slower, more complex and thoughtful. It is more dramatic and suspense filled than it's more gore-filled sisters. It's a modern morality play, told in the form of a horror film.
Saw is about two men, Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon, who wake up in a bathroom, chained to pipes on opposite walls. A dead man lies between them, the victim of an apparent suicide. They listen to the audio tapes in their pockets and discover that they are "playing a game". The goal of the game is for Lawrence to kill Adam before a clock hits 6pm (roughly 6 hours from when they first hear the tapes) or his wife and child will be killed. Adam's goal is to stop Dr. Gordon from killing him. After the game rules are set, Lawrence realizes they are victims of the "Jigsaw” killer, John. This killer doesn't actually kill anyone by his own hand, but rather creates complex situations that his victims must escape from. The escapes often involve brutality and violence. Now, Lawrence and Adam must challenge themselves to see who far they will go to save themselves and family.
There are many themes running through Saw I, but I think there are two main themes: life and sacrifice. They figure into every "game" and every character encounters them in some form. It is that bond that links their games together into one complete story.
Life and the desire to continue living are the driving force and goal of these games. The chance to live is ultimately the most basic human need. It is the reason for all other needs. If we're not alive, then we can't perform other basic needs, like breathing, sleeping, eating, having sex, drinking, never mind creating a shelter, family, or community. Once you're dead, there is nothing you need. It's literally “game over.”
Sacrifice is an ancient idea. It comes from the Latin words sacer and facere. Sacer means to set apart something from the secular. Facere means to make. So, the ancient definition of sacrifice is an action makes something holy by setting it apart. A more modern and appropriate definition is this - a sacrifice is when we give away something valuable, so that something even more valuable may be gained. It is gesture that usually requires a part of ourselves. In the games, Jigsaw requires the players to sacrifice something important and necessary (usually flesh and blood) in order to save their life (the most valuable prize of all).
Jigsaw chooses his victims from the people he knows and observes. He is the omnipotent watcher, who can see into the minds and hearts of others. He is knowledgeable about human nature. Jigsaw, as a detached party, sees how and where his victims have gone wrong in their lives. He is Judgment personified. Judgment is different than just being a judge, jury, and executioner. Judgment is a force, that holds all people must be held accountable for their lives. They then reap the benefits of their actions or be tested in order to prove they deserve their life. The games/punishments that Jigsaw meters out as Judgment are often related to the player's sins and crimes. However, they are not always fair and widely vary in their severity. It is important to note that Jigsaw doesn't see the players as victims, but rather participants. The rules are often wide enough to allow people to make their own decisions regarding their behaviors and reactions to the games.
In the main game of Saw I, the Bathroom Trap, we find that Jigsaw has found that both Adam and Dr Gordon need to be tested. Adam is found to be guilty of “simply (sitting) in the shadows, watching others live out their lives." Jigsaw asks: "But what do voyeurs see when they look into the mirror? Now, I see you as a strange mix of someone angry and yet apathetic. But mostly just pathetic.” Adam isn't truly alive to Jigsaw because rather than actually living, experiencing, and enjoying his life, he watches others. Adam must survive and through that learn to appreciate his life and opportunities he has. Dr. Gordon's flaws are just as repelent to Jigsaw. In various scenes and montages, we see Lawrence being cold and clinical with patients, rude and dismissive of co-workers who he thinks are beneath him, choosing work over his daughter, and cheating on his wife. Lawrence must sacrifice his moral, ethical, and professional ethics and identity to kill Adam. The act of murder is the opposite of what he has sworn to do as a doctor. But he must do it or else lose his family. Here, the goal is to not only win the game, but also find a way out, since they are both locked in place by thick chains which they do not have the keys to.
For another example, in the Razor Wire Trap, we discover that Paul, the player, was recently hospitalized for attempting to commit suicide by cutting his wrists. Jigsaw sees him as unworthy of the full life that he has. So, as Judgment, he challenges Paul to show him that is he worthy and grateful for the blessings of this life. He requests Paul to cut himself over and over, giving a sacrifice of blood, to escape the maze set in front of him and to stay alive. Jigsaw comments on the tape for this trap: “Hello Paul. You are a perfectly, healthy, sane, middle-class male. Yet last month, you ran a straight razor across your wrists. Did you cut yourself because you truly wanted to die, or did you just want some attention? Tonight, you’ll show me. The irony is that if you want to die, you just have to stay where you are. But if you want to live, you’ll have to cut yourself again. Find the path through the razor wire to the door. But hurry. At 3:00 that door will lock and then this room becomes your tomb. How much blood will you shed to stay alive, Paul?” However, Paul is unable to make it through the maze in time and dies. He is cut so deeply that stomach acid is found mixed with the blood, but this is not enough. He dies by blood loss.
Saw I is a modern morality play and cautionary tale. The lessons we are supposed to learn from it center around its two major themes - life and sacrifice. We learn that if we don't cherish our lives or honor our blessings, we will be brought to Judgment and tested in order to prove our worth. We must face the reality of our actions and their consequences, and try to make amends. The price we will pay is high. And in Saw, the thing we must sacrifice is often a literal a piece of ourselves, namely our own flesh and blood.
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